Great thread - Thanks Snow for steppin' in.
Hey GOW, PM me and we can talk all about our wholesale model.
As for parties... I come from a 11 year career in supporting the "party plan" for major companies in the industry and while the "party" concept is a great one for just selling - there is a WHOLE other side to "Direct Selling" than meets the eye. We have entertained the notions of starting a true MLM/Party Plan channel for V4L - it's just a TON of work to set up properly. Right now our focus is on Supply Chain - and getting you all the very best products on the market.
I do have ideas on how we could approach "Home Parties" - I just need to find the time to develop a catalog. If we had a Catalog, you could have a sampler pack with 5-10 batteries and 10-20 sample carts - guests would pre-pay and order right there. That is mostly how Party Plan works anyway. (Lia Sophia, Pampered Chef, Avon, Stella and Dot, PartyLite, etc. etc. etc.). Then the host could either make commission as an affiliate, or get host rewards in the form of products for themselves. It's a great model, and lots of fun - an AWESOME way to spread the V4L name as well. This way nobody has to carry inventory, and the guests will get the goodies literally days later directly from V4L. Let's just say its on our radar to get this going - I just need to clone myself
Thanks again for the commentary, and ideas.
Dave